This is an introduction to a tour of Springdale, Arkansas.(2008)

I know most of you if not all of you have worked in Latin America and are familiar with the use of landscape—especially in indigenous movements—as a way to create community identity and then use this community identity to empower people to work for change.

In southern Mexico where you fund micro credit initiatives and lead experiential learning tours the landscape is beautiful and the sacredness of it is evident. Mayan leader Subcomandante Marcos illustrates this point perfectly when he says "patient companion was the night. Lover and accomplice the mountain." The EZLN army moved through the darkness and they were protected by the mountain. The landscape was their cohort. The sacredness or potential for powerful rebellion against injustice was evident in the beauty of the mountains and its ability to protect them.
I am saying all of this because today you are not going to see a beautiful landscape. Today you will see plain brick buildings, sheet metal plants and run down ranch houses. I am asking you to remember that the sacred to be found in the work here is not going to be in the landscape. The landscape here is not pretty. It is ugly.

I struggled to figure out a way to show a place that you could connect with. It's so hard because how does a soul connect to a suburban landscape? How can I prove that the community is connected to this place in a deep way despite a lack of the visible evidence that would speak to this truth?

To show you the beauty here you have to know the stories of the economic refugees aka the workers in Northwest Arkansas. Many workers have been forced—by trade agreements and by the policies of corporations that are headquartered here—to leave their homes just to sustain themselves and their families. To quote another indigenous leader this time from Oklahoma N Scott Mamaday "places are important, because they’ve been made sacred by sacrifice, by the investment of blood and experience and story. In the telling of our stories we are speaking into being the sacred” So today you will hear the about the struggles of workers you will hear their stories. Hopefully you will connect with the work we are doing at the Workers' Center and I can make it real to you.